


Easter Nightmares

by The Wicked Symphony (SymphonyWizard)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 11:46:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18520867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SymphonyWizard/pseuds/The%20Wicked%20Symphony
Summary: James has an... interesting nightmare.  Natasha comforts him.





	Easter Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Faith2nyc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faith2nyc/gifts).



Sometimes it still astonishes Natasha how far maternal instincts can go.  It’s been a couple of years since James needed a baby monitor—that was also when they were in their first home at the Avengers complex—yet she still knows when something is wrong.  His bedroom is across the hall, yet it seems he can still wake her from a deep sleep. 

She carefully extricates herself from her husband’s embrace.  She had fallen asleep with her head pillowed against his chest.  His powerful arm is wrapped loosely around her.  Once she is free from his warm embrace, she straightens her nightgown.  One of the straps had fallen to her elbow and her breast was almost spilling out.  She then grabs her robe off of her reading chair next to her bed and heads out of her bedroom. 

She crosses the small hallway to her son’s room.  She opens the door and steps inside.  For the son of two Avengers, he doesn’t really decorate his room with too much Avengers stuff.  The walls are painted blue, but beyond that, he’s more of a Harry Potter fan.  For a few months, because of his red hair, her son thought he was related to Ron Weasley.  He has more Harry Potter Lego sets than he knows what to do with.  A Hogwarts Express Lego train set is set up with a track going around his room with a few more Lego sets set up intermittently along the track.  The comforter on his bed isn’t Harry Potter-themed.  It’s red with black hourglasses all over it.  It’s a Black Widow comforter in reverse colors. 

Finally, she sees her son and her heart sinks at what she sees.  Her four-year-old son is sitting up in his twin bed with his knees drawn up to his chest and his face buried in his arms.  Careful to step over the Lego train tracks, she crosses the room and reaches out, grasping his arms. 

She shushes him soothingly.  “ _What’s the matter, my love_?” she asks in Russian. 

James lifts his face and in the glow of his blue night light, she can see his green eyes.  Instead of answering her, he throws his arms around her.  The sudden movement startles Natasha, but she wraps her arms around him. 

“ _Did you have a bad dream, my love_?” she asks softly. 

James nods into her chest.  His cries soften a little in her embrace.

“How about you scoot over let’s talk about it?” Natasha suggests in English.  Since her son started learning to speak, she and her husband have been teaching him English and Russian in tandem.  At first it seemed a little risky teaching him words from two different languages.  Natasha was worried he would get the languages mixed up.  Steve was confident, though, and amazingly their son has managed to learn both languages. 

Usually, at home, they all communicate in Russian, but they also switch on and off with English.  It’s given James something of an accent.  It’s not an American accent, but it’s not quite Russian either. 

James detaches himself from his mother and she climbs into bed with him, propping his pillows against the bedframe and sitting back against it.  Her son then snuggles up against her in the crook of her arm. 

“Now, what was this nightmare about, sweetie?” asks Natasha, playing with his hair absently. 

James starts crying all over again.  “It was so scary,” he cries.  “The Easter Bunny tried to eat me!”

Natasha doesn’t respond for a minute.  Easter Sunday is a couple of days away.  She already bought her son an Easter basket.  She has a clever place planned for where to hide the basket.  Still, she is certain she will find his basket before Steve does.  She’s already made a bet with Bucky, Wanda, Sam, Tony, and Pepper on how long it will take Steve to find his basket.

James will be so excited when his Uncle Bucky and Uncle Tony fly in on Sunday.  Sometimes James complains about living so far from the people who love him, but Natasha knows he loves living on this Ohio farm. 

Maybe it’s because of Clint, but Natasha also loves being a farmer. 

But having a _nightmare_ about the _Easter Bunny_?

“The Easter Bunny tried to eat you?” repeats Natasha.  “Well that wasn’t very nice of him.  What else happened?”

“The Easter Bunny got mad,” explains James.  “He lost some of his Easter eggs and he blamed the Avengers.”

Natasha narrows her eyes.  “Why would he blame the Avengers?  Aren’t the Avengers the good guys?”  James is too young to know that his parents are who they are just yet.  He’s proven excellent at keeping important secrets, but still the identity of his parents is a pretty big secret.  It’s too big of a secret for a boy who just had his fourth birthday this passed Valentine’s Day. 

“Yeah,” confirms James.  “They were busy with a bad guy and they accidentally knocked away some of the Easter Bunny’s eggs.  The Easter Bunny got really mad!”

“Oh, no, what happened?” why does this nightmare remind Natasha of that one time she and Steve had to deal with a few terrorists dressed up as Santa Claus?

“The Easter Bunny turned into a big, scary bunny!” shouts James.  “Even Hulk was scared!”

“Okay, okay, you don’t need to shout,” Natasha says, patting her son’s shoulder lightly with her other hand.  “Let’s not accidentally wake Daddy.  So what happened next?”

“The Easter Bunny wanted revenge,” James goes on.  “So he grabbed a big baseball bat and went after the Avengers.  Thor and Hulk tried to stop him first.  The Easter Bunny stole Thor’s ax and ate it.  Thor was so sad that he just ran off crying like a baby.  Easter Bunny then smashed Hulk with his baseball bat.  Hawkeye shot an arrow at him and the arrow bounced right off of him.  The Easter Bunny grabbed Hawkeye’s bow and shoved it up Hawkeye’s butt.”

Natasha has to take a few breaths at that.  The image of her best friend with his own bow shoved up his ass is just too funny.  “Okay, so that leaves Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow.  What happened to them?”

“He stole Iron Man’s suit of armor right off him and put it on,” replies James.  “Iron Man is a sissy without his armor, so he ran off scared.” 

Natasha has no comment.  Tony actually has proven pretty capable without his suit of armor.  No, hand to hand combat is not his strong suit, but the Avengers wouldn’t be where they are without Tony.  Besides being a genius inventor, he’s also a great strategist.

“He then turned Captain America into a pug and Black Widow was defeated because she was allergic to dogs,” continues James.

She could tell her son that the Black Widow is, in fact, _not_ allergic to dogs, but the thought of her husband turning into a bug-eyed pug?  Maybe she’s a mean wife for thinking it, but he would be an adorable pug!

“So how do you fit in all of this, sweetie?” she asks.

“I tried to save the Avengers,” replies James proudly.  “I dressed up like Black Widow and grabbed a shield.  I went after the evil Easter Bunny.  But he was too powerful.  He chased me into a dead end and almost took a bite out of me.”  He sobs pitifully.  “Mommy, I’m never going to be a superhero.  Black Widow would think I suck.”

Natasha inhales sharply.  Black Widow is her son’s favorite superhero.  He thinks she’s the most powerful superhero simply because she can kick Captain America’s butt without messing up her hair, as he explains it.  It’s perfectly true.  She puts a finger under her son’s chin and lifts his face up to meet hers. 

“You listen to me, James Clinton,” she begins sternly.  “I can tell you that Black Widow would _not_ think that you suck.  She would think that you would have been brave for trying to stand up to the scary Easter Bunny.  She would also tell you that sometimes we all scared.  Even the Avengers get scared sometimes.”

James cocks his head.  “They do?”

“All the time, my love,” she assures.  “Now, how about you go back to sleep and in the morning, I’ll make you some eggs and toast.”

James sighs.  “Okay.” 

Natasha climbs off his bed and tucks in her son.  “Goodnight, my love,” she says planting a kiss on her son’s forehead.”

“Goodnight, Mommy,” James mumbles.

Natasha smiles as she leaves her son’s room.  Some days, she just really loves being a mother.  She heads back to her bedroom and stops for a moment to stare at her husband’s sleeping form.  She cocks her head thoughtfully. 

“Steve Rogers the pug,” she muses.  She can’t contain herself anymore.  She bursts out in fits of laughter.    

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Easter everyone!


End file.
